U.S. Navy Lt. Tammie Jo Shults poses in front of a Navy F/A-18A in this 1992 photo released in Washington April 18, 2018. Thomas P. Milne/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters ...

Tammie Jo Shults, pictured here in 1992 during her time in the military, was one of the first women to fly Navy tactical aircraft. Shults spoke at the NRF PROTECT conference at the Gaylord Texan ...

Capt. Tammie Jo Shults wasn’t even supposed to be flying the plane that day. Her husband, another pilot, had been signed up for the flight, but she had switched with him to attend her son’s ...

Tammie Jo Shults, a former fighter pilot with the U.S. Navy, was flying the plane that had 149 people onboard, according to The Washington Post, when one of the engines exploded about 20 minutes ...

Shults, 56, is a 1983 graduate of MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas, receiving her degree in biology and agribusiness, said Carol Best, a spokeswoman for the university.

Listen as Hero Southwest Pilot Tammie Jo Shults Plans Emergency Landing in Dramatic Air Traffic Recording. Published Apr 19, 2018 at 5:40 AM EDT Updated Apr 19, 2018 at 7:16 AM EDT. By .

Tammie Jo Shults—who gained worldwide acclaim as the hero Southwest pilot who landed a severely damaged plane—overcame stereotypes to fly. Sign Up for Our Ideas Newsletter POV.

Shults is 56. Sullenberger was 57 when US Airways Flight 1549 splashed down between New York City and New Jersey after losing power in both engines.